Parliament: Ken Agyapong to know contempt verdict Wednesday

Members of Parliament (MPs) will tomorrow ( (Wednesday) determine the fate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Mr Kennedy Agyapong, as to whether he is in contempt of Parliament for allegedly making contemptuous remarks of Parliament.

If the House determines that he is guilty of contempt of Parliament, he could be reprimanded or suspended from Parliament.

The Committee of Privileges, which investigated the allegation against Mr Agyapong concluded that “Mr Agyapong is indeed in contempt of Parliament for the remarks he made that “Parliament is cheap” and “Parliament is useless.”

In its report which was laid in Parliament during the Second Meeting of the Second Session of the Seventh Parliament, the committee said it reached the conclusion after carefully considering the matter in the light of the totality of the evidence gathered and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Standing Orders and other relevant enactments.

It accordingly, recommended to the House to adopt its report and sanction Mr Agyapong by suspending him for the rest of the session or reprimand him.

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When called upon to present the Committee”s report (Tuesday), the Chairman of the Committee of Privileges, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, said once there was another contempt case against Mr Agyapong, the Committee would want to complete that investigation and present the two reports together.

The other investigation has to with Mr Agyapong’s alleged incitement of the public against the murdered journalists, Mr Ahmed Hussein-Suale.

But the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, disagreed with that suggestion and indicated that once the first report was ready, it should be presented.

The conclusion is that the Committee will present its report on the first investigation to Parliament tomorrow (Wednesday).

Background

On June 6, 2018, the MP for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka drew the attention of the House to an alleged disparaging comment made by in the media to the effect that ‘the House is useless and cheap and if the House was not useless, it would not have Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu as its Majority Leader.”

Alhaji Muntaka indicated that the alleged comments were in contempt of Parliament under Standing Order 28 of the House, and prayed the Chair to refer the conduct of Mr Agyapong to the Committee of Privileges for investigation and report.

In accordance with Standing Order 164(2) of the House, the complaint was referred to the Committee of Privileges for investigation and report.